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Published: August 7th 2011
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The Hagia Sophia
Seen from across the plaza near the Blue Mosque, which was built very nearby to try to outshine the Hagia Sophia. The Hagia Sophia was the place I most wanted to visit in all of Istanbul. Not because I knew so much about it, but because I had known so little about it in the past.
The memory still burns a bit when I think of the tutorial back in college when our teacher told the whole group that we had to be much more serious about our study of art history --anyone else remember Art 100 and all those pictures we had to identify?
"One student even confused the Hagia Sophia with the Domus Aurea!" he continued with incredulity. That was me. Beyond the pale with ignorance.
Though I think I learned more from Art 100 than from any other course I took in college, I was starting from very close to zero, so I had a long way to go, and in that first semester I was definitely at sea.
Forty-five years later, in Istanbul, Phil and I headed for the Hagia Sophia early in the morning to beat the busloads of tourists, and as we joined the rapidly growing line, a handsome young man with an official guide license hanging from his neck stepped forward
Hagia Sophia #2 The lambs representing the Apostles
Phil wondered if this frieze representing the Apostles was sponsored by the Australian Wool Bureau. and asked if we would like him to guide us through.
For once I said, "Yes, Phil, this place is really I important to me." And getting a guide was absolutely the right decision. He was SO knowledgeable, friendly, informative and willing to answer questions.
Among the many things we learned was that this building was the third version, and that the Hagia Sophia had for many years been the grandest church in Christendom. Our guide said "in the world" and perhaps that's right. For centuries it was the center of the Christian Church, and after the schism with Rome, it continued to be the center of the Orthodox Church.
It was the Roman Emperor Constantine who made the Christian religion officially ok, and in 360 AD he ordered the construction in Istanbul of the "Great Church" (Megalo Ekklesia). But it was made of wood and some decades later it burned to the ground.
This church was replaced by a stronger building, but, according to our guide, there were riots at the Hippodrome nearby. One rioting group was known as the "Hooligans" and the other group was known as the "Fanatics". They destroyed the second Church.
Hagia Sophia exterior
Some exterior buttressing was later added to shore up the Hagia Sophia. Serious earthquakes have sometimes hit Istanbul over the centuries. I was amazed to hear the background of these two words, which are still with us today, and don't have the most honorific of connotations.
In recent times archeologists have found some pieces of the second church, including the marble frieze with the 12 lambs, symbolizing the 12 apostles.
Anyway the Emperor Justinian ordered the third church to be built and for centuries no building surpassed it. Marble was brought from all over, from Italy, Egypt, Greece. Pillars were brought from Ephesus and from the Apollo Temple in Baalbek (now Lebanon). Over 100 masters and 10,000 laborers worked on it, according to our tour book (our guide said 20,000 Egyptian slaves), and the entire structure was completed in just 5 years!
Now whatever the actual fine details were, can you IMAGINE the logistics of coordinating all those ships and all those people, all those marble deliveries from throughout the Mediterranean and Anatolia, and tens of thousands of workers, without a single cell phone, cad cam, email, printer, photocopier, or teleconference and building what was greatest building in the world for centuries, in JUST 5 YEARS??
I expected the interior of the Hagia Sophia be tiled,
Hagia Sophia complete dome
It's hard to get good shots inside, but this can be a test for your imagination. Don't forget that if you double click on any of the pictures you can get a fullscreen image. having already visited the Blue Mosque. But the interior was made of the amazingly differently colored and patterned marble. The marble was carefully sliced and pieces laid side by side so the patterns of the marble connected across the walls and floor.
Probably most of you know the story of Galileo, who asserted that the world was round and he earned the condemnation of the Catholic Church for this idea. We were interested to see that centuries before Galileo a mosaic in the Hagia Sophia showed Michael the Archangel holding a round world in his hand -- see the picture included here. Maybe Galileo wasn't ahead of his times after all, but ahead of that time in the church.
After 916 years as a Christian church, the Hagia Sophia was taken over by the Ottomans and converted into a mosque. But as Islam teaches the importance of respect for other religions, the Moslems didn't destroy the beautiful paintings and mosaics, they just covered them over with stucco.
The Hagia Sophia was used as a mosque for 481 years and in 1935, after some restorations had been made to it, it was opened as a museum. The mosaics
Hagia Sophia dome
Here's an idea of the arches. The main dome has other partial domes around it. are slowly and carefully being unveiled and available to everyone to see. It now stands as an amalgam of both Christian and Moslem worship sites. Much like Istanbul, which as a crossroads city has been known for its tolerance.
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Sonia Mrva
non-member comment
Great Photos
Hi Martha and Phil, You seem to be having a whale of a time over there. The photos are great! Take care and do keep us posted. George sends his hello to you. Warm regards. Sonia